By Al Edwards, Financial EditorTHE QUALITY of life for most Jamaicans has deteriorated over the past five years and more Jamaicans have become poorer over that time.
So said the Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Audley Shaw, in his Budget debate presentation to Parliament yesterday.
Using the latest Survey of Living Conditions to support his claim, he pointed to a decline of national real mean per capita consumption by 6.2 per cent in 2002 over 2001 with sharp declines in the food and beverage, health care and personal care categories.
"When looked at in constant prices, our annual mean per capita consumption in 1997 ($9,076) was more than we consumed in 2002 ($8,953). There are also almost four per cent more Jamaicans listed as poor in 2002 than in 1998.
"Over the past fiscal year inflation soared to 15 per cent, but the poor man's inflation was made higher, averaging closer to 25 per cent 10 per cent higher on a basket of basic foods."
LITTLE GROWTH
Turning his attention to growth, Mr. Shaw said that over the past 15 years, Jamaica's average economic growth per year has been less than one per cent, which is less than the annual average growth in Jamaica's population.
"Over the same period, the average annual growth rate has been over five per cent in Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, St. Kitts, St. Vincent, Belize, St. Lucia and even Guyana.
"While Jamaica has had a total growth in GDP over the past 15 years of only 15 per cent, these Caribbean nations have seen their GDP grow by close to or over 100 per cent which means they doubled or almost doubled in size. A comparison of actual GDP per capita figures is also embarrassing to Jamaica. Jamaica's perception GDP has remained constant around US$3,500 over the past few years, while Trinidad and Tobago's per capita GDP is in excess of US$10,000 (almost three times Jamaica's). The per capita of Barbados is almost US$15,000, a whopping four times greater than that of Jamaica.
"Put simply, while our Caribbean nations have grown their economies and improved the standard of living of their citizens, Jamaica has for all intents and purposes stood still and made little or no progress."
EMPLOYMENT
Mr. Shaw declared in Parliament yesterday that there was no improvement in the number of people employed over the previous year. He made reference to a report by the World Bank that read: "Whatever growth has occurred has not created much employment, largely because of the loss of competitiveness in the 1990s that hurt tradable goods production and thereby formal private sector employment. Employment rose less than 0.3 per cent per year from 1991-2001. Between 1996-2001, only public sector employment rose, while informal sector employment was stable.
DEBT
Mr Shaw observed that from an economic perspective, the ballooning public debt has been a direct cause of low levels of economic growth over the past decade. He added that by excessively borrowing, the Government has continued to 'crowd-out' the borrowers in the productive sector.
"By absorbing such significant quantities of capital, the Government has driven up interest rates to astronomical levels that remain extremely high despite recent declines. Such high interest rates, especially in the midst of the most massive tax package in the nation's history, have made it simply unaffordable for entrepreneurs to borrow money, start businesses, build factories and employ workers. Those with any capital left logically invest in Government instruments, lending more money to the Government in return for ever higher rates of interest and so the cycle continues.
